The Mystery of the Sapphire Crown
Every year in Zootopia, one of the most popular and celebrated events would always occur in the Downtown. This would be the Miss Zootopia beauty pageant, where the fairest of the animal kingdom would compete for fabulous prizes. This was a contest that would be followed by almost everyone in the city, and it showed up everywhere in the media. This was also the first time for some new contestants to attend too. For some reason, Judy Hopps had also expressed great interest in attending, much to Nick´s surprise. Still, he had been very encouraging throughout her preparations for it and now, he would be witnessing that on live at the Town Hall of Zootopia. He was also sent there for guard duty by Chief Bogo, in case of theft or acts of violence. As the time was right, Nick was escorting a rather anxious Judy to the town hall. She was carrying heavy bags full of equipment for the contest. "It´s all right, you´ll do fine. Even if you lose, you´re still the most beautiful of them all to me", Nick smiled gently. "Not sure if the audience agrees, I´ve never competed before. Besides, Gazelle is attending too and she´s almost impossible to beat. She has won already six times!" Judy expressed her worries. "Trying never hurts. You´re the one who should know that", Nick said as they entered the town hall. It was almost like a gala evening there, with several animals sitting there with their drinks ready for the show. Several familiar faces were there to see the competition, such as the host of ZPD and Judy´s family too. As Judy went for the dressing room, Nick walked upstairs to a private box, where the heads of the competition would be. At the door of the box was another police officer, a ferret with a mustache. "Nick Wilde, I presume? I totally expected a cop of your prestige would show up in here", the officer said. "Yes, Officer Wilde at your service. Who might you be, by the way? I don´t remember seeing you in the force", the fox asked. "I´m Officer Putorious. This is my first post. I guess they picked up something easy for a rookie like me", the ferret laughed. "Easy indeed. What could anyone possibly do wrong here? This isn´t a bank or anything, and I guess even thieves have enough decency not to break into the ladies rooms", Nick said. "Well the host of the year is bringing a fabulous gift from Tundratown this time. Wouldn´t be nice to see it in wrong hands", Putorious noted. "A fabulous gift from Tundratown? That sounds interesting. Mind if I go see the host?" Nick said. "Sure, I won´t bother you. A coworker wanted to talk to me downstairs anyway", the ferret walked away as Nick went to the private box. As he entered the box, he almost gasped as he noticed a group of intimidating-looking polar bears sitting there, one of them holding the one who he expected to see among them. "Mr Big?" Nick asked. The chair on the polar bear´s paw turned, and the diminutive mobster looked at him. "Ah, Nicki. Glad you could attend. This is my primo time running this competition, and a great honor that is too. My daughter is attending it as well, how could I refuse to host it then?" he said. "So I´m on guard duty at a competition run by a crime boss...hope this won´t make me look like a dirty cop", Nick looked glum. "Ah no worry, neither of us are doing anything illegal. Besides, I´m the one who´s donating the award at the contest, the Sapphire Crown of Tundratown!" he flicked his finger, and a polar bear showed a glass box. Inside the box was a beautiful golden crown encrusted with sapphires. "Wow!" the fox gasped in amazement. "Would feel wonderful being the fair donna who´d get to wear that, wouldn´t it? Oh, but the competition is starting in a few minutes. We´ve gotta get ready. And don´t do anything stupid there, capisce?" Mr Big said. "I won´t. The episode with your grandmama won´t happen again", Nick laughed as he went to the main hall. Downstairs, Nick went to get himself a drink and went to the table with the rest of the ZPD. Bogo and Clawhauser were there too. "Anything suspicious here, Fox?" the curmudgeonly buffalo asked. "No, nothing at all. Except the fact that Mr Big is hosting the competition this year", Nick thought. "This is just entertainment, not politics. A beauty pageant isn´t the kind of place where a gangster would screw things up", Clawhauser noted, chomping on donuts again. "Sssh! It´s starting!" Bogo said as lights darkened and music started playing. At the stage, a spotlight came and Fabienne Growley, the famous newsanchor, arrived there. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Annual Zootopia Beauty Pageant! Here we´ll find out who´s the most beautiful in our city! I, Fabienne Growley, will be your host today! The competition this year will be sponsored by our friendly neighbor businessman Mr Big, who´s proud to present the award of the competition; the fabled Sapphire Crown!" she announced, as Mr Big´s polar bear guard carried the box onto the stage. "That must be worth millions", Clawhauser said. "And now, as we start with the casual outfit round, I´ll introduce you to the competitors!" Fabienne declared, as the curtains opened. About 15 competitors had arrived, from various species. Nick even knew a few of them. "....and here we have a most lovely mother of two, Mrs Otterton! There´s nobody sweeter from the Rainforest District!" Fabienne said as Mrs Otterton waved to the crowd. "Oh. I didn´t know she was into this too", Nick said. "...Here´s the daughter of the sponsor itself, Fru Fru, the ever-skilled yoga instructor Nangi, and of course, one of our longtime winners, Gazelle!" Fabienne kept introducing the competitors. "Wow, you´re one hot dancer!" Gazelle´s voice was heard, and everybody´s heads turned at the table with the ZPD members. Clawhauser smiled sheepishly, for he had accidentally put on the silly Dancing With Gazelle app on his phone. As he put the telephone away, the entire audience laughed, even Gazelle. "And finally, a newcomer. Who´s none other than the spunky member of the mammal inclusion program, the heroic cop Judy Hopps!" Fabienne pointed at Judy. Both her family and Nick clapped at her. "Well I certainly know some who´ll root for her regardless of the round", Bogo smiled. "So let the contest commence!" Fabienne announced, as everybody started voting on their apps that were exclusive to the contest. The first round went on rather seamlessly. Nangi was among the first to fall out during the first round, but she seemed rather indifferent about it anyway. "Where did that Putorious guy go?" Nick asked Bogo. "Ah, he´s probably looking at the windows upstairs. Someone needs to keep their eyes open for unwanted guests", he responded. "If you see him, tell him to bring more soda", a thirsty Clawhauser stated. The second round of the beauty contest was rather interesting, since every contestant was supposed to dress in the style of the district they came from. Judy was wearing her traditional pink farm clothes, Fru Fru had Russian-styled winter wear, Mrs Otterton wore a summery tunic dress and Gazelle was dressed up like an Arabian princess. None of these four fell during this round, however. "Oh, it´s two rounds down and three to go. It´s only four contestants left, and things are getting definitely interesting. So get ready for the next round with evening gowns...wait a minute!" Fabienne shouted as suddenly lights went out. Breaking noises were heard and the audience gasped in horror. "Do something!" Bogo screamed at Clawhauser, who tried to stumble near the spot where the light switches were. "Don´t know what to do! Maintenance was never my forte!" he said in a very worried tone, until Putorious ran to the spot in a hurry. "No worries, I can fix this!" he said. After a bit of tuning around with the switches, the lights went up. But something was not right, the glass box holding the crown was in shambles and the crown itself was gone! "The Sapphire Crown! It´s been stolen!" Fabienne was shocked. "But the windows were shut close tight! The thief must not have escaped from here, he´s still here among us!" Putorious reminded. "Indeed. Have no fear, Officer Wilde is here! Everybody stay calm, I´ll find the crown and the show will go on! Mark my words!" Nick swore. "Here we go again", Bogo said as Nick went to investigate the broken box with Putorious. "It looks like it was broken with a blunt object", the ferret said. Nick sniffed the air around it, and noticed a small strand of hair there. It smelled familiar. "The same odour as in Mr Big´s car!" the fox was surprised. "What´s going on here?" the shrew´s voice was heard as he was carried to witness the crime scene. "I know what´s going on! This is one of your schemes! You´re trying to frame somebody else, aren´t you?" Nick´s suspicions rose. "Frame? Don´t make me laugh", he responded. "It was one of your polar bears that broke the glass! Only something as strong as their fists would break it around here. And it smells like your entourage here too!" Nick accused. "Stupido, so stupido. Why would I steal something I´ve donated out of my own free will? If I really wanted to do something illegal around here, I´d sabotage the competition so that Fru Fru would win, but even I have enough integrity not to pull that off. And as for the smell, maybe it smells like that because we put it there in the first place", Mr Big explained. Nick felt embarrassed for making such a hasty decision. "Sorry. I´ll keep on lookout for the real culprit. Don´t worry Judy, the competition will go on", he said to himself. "Pretty surprising that the lights went out so fast. Is there another lightswitch around here?" Clawhauser asked. "Maybe there is upstairs. The maintenance guy´s not there at the moment, though", and he´s the only one who can operate it, Putorious thought. Nick went to the area upstairs that was located on the opposite side of Mr Big´s box. There wasn´t much there other than the maintenance room, which was rather empty, a bunch of other light switches and a locked window. He noticed that there was one switch that looked different to other switches there. Underneath it read a text named "Shutdown". "So this is where they disabled the electricity here. And the window´s still locked, so the culprit cannot have escaped. Some just like to hang around the crime scene, I guess", Nick said. "Maybe it is one of the competitors? We could go and check the dressing rooms", Clawhauser thought. "Maybe, but I´d probably get slapped for interrupting them. Believe me, I´ve got experience. But wait a minute....Ahah! Now it makes sense!" Nick suddenly realized something. "What?" the chubby cheetah was puzzled. "Did you find anything?" Putorious came to the scene too. "Actually we did. The crown wasn´t stolen by anybody from Mr Big´s entourage or any of the competitors. It was taken most likely by somebody who was hanging around the crime boss himself, and somebody who know where the crown came from. Somebody who looks like a ferret", Nick winked at Putorious, who was shocked. "What? Me a thief? Prove it!" he screamed so hard that everybody in the hall heard. "Well the only blunt instruments that could break glass that strong here are the police batons, and you´re the only suspicious fuzz around here. Since you hanged around Mr Big´s box when I met you, you probably took some fur there and put it there to make me suspect somebody else than you. And if I´m not mistaken, you also have an accomplice here who put off the electricity while you stole it!" Nick explained. Putorious was furious. "You snitch!" he snarled and tried to strangle Nick. As Nick struggled to strike free from his grip, he accidentally tore off the ferret´s mustache to reveal a familiar face. "Travis! You again!" he noticed. This was one of the dirtiest lowlifes in all of Zootopia, who used to be a bully even when he was a kid. But while other bullies around his age redeemed themselves, such as Gideon Grey, this ferret kept on a life of crime, often working with the nefarious burglar Duke Weaselton. Nick and Judy had ran into both of them on several occasions. "I thought I found a good new recruit! Looks like we have to check their identities more efficiently next time", Bogo sneered as he arrested Travis. "Haha, I don´t have the crown! Arrest me all you want, you won´t get it!" he laughed. With his sharp hearing, Nick could hear soft steps upstairs, coming from the maintenance room. Slowly but steadily, he sneaked behind the door, and noticed something familiar. It was Duke Weaselton again, this time disguised as a maintenance worker and carrying a heavy bag around him. "Hi Putorious, it´s time to go", he shouted as he was about to come out, until Nick snatched him fast. It didn´t take long before Bogo and Clawhauser were dragging the mustelid thieves away from the town hall, and Nick delivered the crown back to the show host. "Oh thank you, Officer Wilde! You´re a real hero!" Fabienne said. "Whatever. The show must go on, so I guess that´s enough of crimefighting for today", he responded, going back to where he sat when the pageant was going on. Soon, the evening gown round started, as the four remaining competitors returned to the stage. Judy wore her mother´s old-fashioned blue ballgown, which Nick really loved, while Otterton had a more modern purple one, Gazelle wore a sparkly dress made from the same material as her stage outfit and Fru Fru´s was leopard-patterned through and through. The latter however, wasn´t very popular among the audience and she dropped out. "Hmh. They just don´t appreciate real fashion. Hope Daddy buys me something better for the next contest!" she snapped while leaving the stage. Bogo and Clawhauser had just returned from detaining the thieves as the bikini round started. Both of them blushed heavily as Gazelle entered the stage in the most revealing bikini of them all. "Quite the angel with horns, isn´t she?" Nick teased a bit. Bogo´s face turned stern again as he stopped blushing. "None of your business! At least I´m not head over heels for fellow police officers!" the buffalo snarked as Nick gazed at Judy on the stage. "Are you sure?" Clawhauser laughed teasingly. The bikini round was a rather tough call between the three remaining competitors, but Otterton eventually fell off. She sighed rather sadly, but didn´t have any hard feelings for losing either. After she had left, the final round arrived, with only Gazelle and Judy left. They both had changed back to their evening gowns and were now interviewed by Fabienne. Both of them answered pretty much in the same way. Gazelle and Judy both seemed to praise inner beauty more than the superficial, and both were very encouraging of kindness and diversity in their speeches. "No matter whatever animal you are, change starts with you", Judy ended her speech the same way as she did when Nick became a cop too. The fox smiled gently after hearing this. Finally, the votes were in, and Fabienne was ready to declare the winner. "Ladies and gentlemen, it has finally time to declare the winner. We will find out who is the beauty queen and Miss Zootopia of the year. And she is...." the snow leopard was counting the votes. Nick was holding thumbs up impatiently as his heart was beating loudly at the excitement. "Judith Laverne Hopps!" Fabienne declared. Cheers echoed all across the room, especially from Judy´s family, Clawhauser and even Bogo. A small tear of joy fell into Nick´s eye, while Judy was blushing with a shy smile. Even Gazelle was good sport about this, as she gave her the thumbs up. "It´s not every day a small animal competes as a newcomer and manages to win. Therefore, I crown you as Miss Zootopia!" Fabienne put a Miss Zootopia ribbon on her and placed the crown on her head. The audience cheered again. Later that evening, Nick and Judy went home from the town hall, both of them feeling very happy. "I solved the case and you won the crown. This was a victory for both of us", Nick said. "I wouldn´t have won if you didn´t solve the theft. Thank you, my gallant Nick", she kissed him as they arrived home. "You´re welcome. A girl like you deserves to be the Queen at least for a day", Nick flattered. "Maybe someday I can help you win something big too", Judy smiled as she went inside. "Something big....why not?" Nick thought to himself. Category:WildeHopps stories Category:Adventure